October 2010 MMA News Archive - Page 6

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If Hardy has his way today at UFC 120 against Carlos Condit, the latter. "[Carlos Condit] admits this is the biggest fight of his UFC career and he wants to use me as a stepping stone to a shot at UFC champ Georges St-Pierre. That’s not happening. I want to send a message out that I’m back and I’m better than ever, and I’m still a legitimate contender for the belt. I think there were a lot of hopes riding on me for the last fight, with me being the first UK fighter to contend for the belt, and obviously I fell short, and I think a lot of fans were disappointed with that. So as a way of apologizing to the fans for my last performance, I want to put on a show and give them their money’s worth, and at the same time scare the hell out of the rest of the division and let them know that nobody’s safe."

It's been a couple of years since Dana White went on an international trip to try and negotiate a deal to bring Fedor Emelianenko to the UFC, but it is still a hot button subject with a great many fans that want to see the former Pride champion compete in the Octagon.
Since that time, the UFC has established an strong heavyweight division with champion Brock Lesnar ruling the roost and top contenders like Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, and Shane Carwin anchoring the weight class along with him.
Fedor lost his most recent effort, being submitted by Fabricio Werdum, and while many believed that White would have been cheering his demise, he says it was far from that.
"A lot of people were saying that, 'you must have been happy when Fedor (lost).' To be honest with you, I'm as much of a fight fan as all you guys are," White said on Friday. "You hear me talk about Fedor. I flew to crazy places, made him a very respectable offer to come in and fight. I would have loved to have done him and Brock Lesnar or whoever. I tried to make that fight happen, and they know it, whether they say it or not.

LONDON -- Steve Cantwell just can't buy a break.
The light heavyweight was forced to pull out of his UFC 120 fight against Stanislav Nedkov Friday morning after suffering a knee injury in training on Wednesday.
"Wednesday we were training," Cantwell told MMA Fighting. "It was my last medium day training, just trying to cut weight, loosen up a little bit. I was just having a really, really great training session. Literally, the last five minutes I was rolling -- we did three rounds on pads and two rolling -- literally the last minute, I rolled, hit a move, my foot got caught and torqued my knee and popped my lateral collateral ligament. I couldn't walk. I tried to play it off because there were all kinds of people in the room, like, 'Ah, I got a cramp. I'm done training,' kind of thing."

LONDON – Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar? Benson Henderson vs. B.J. Penn?
For more than a year, Zuffa officials have been adamant with decries that the Ultimate Fighting Championship and its sister promotion, World Extreme Cagefighting, will operate as independent organizations.
But for the first time, a company executive has suggested the WEC may get a promotional push by the UFC, and it could result in superfights between the two organizations' biggest stars.
Today during a UFC Fan Expo London 2010 Q&A session at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, UFC co-owner and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta admitted the time likely has come for the UFC to help its smaller partner. After all, while the WEC has produced some of the best and most competitive events of the past few years, ratings have sunk, attendance figures have flat-lined (when WEC star Urijah Faber isn't on the card), and yet the company continues producing some of the sport's top lighter-weight fighters, including featherweight champ Aldo, lightweight title-holder Henderson, and a host of other notables in the 135-, 145- and 155-pound divisions.

If Jon Jones isn't fighting Ryan Bader in February at UFC 126, nobody's told him. The fast-rising light heavyweight today told a gathered crowd at the UFC Fan Expo London 2010 at London's Earls Court Exhibition Centre that his long-rumored fight with Bader at the as-yet-unannounced UFC 126 event was still a go despite UFC president Dana White's Friday comments that the contest was in jeopardy. "The Ryan Bader fight is well underway," Jones clarified. At a Friday Q&A session, White set the MMA world abuzz with a revelation that the Bader-Jones matchup, which was previously considered a virtual lock for the Feb. 5 event, was perhaps "in jeopardy." On Saturday, Jones calmed the nerves of the gathered crowd by informing them he had consulted with UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, who confirmed that the matchup was still planned for UFC 126. "I think [Bader] signed his contract," Jones said. "I've been really busy, so I haven't gotten a chance to sign my contract yet, but I think that fight will be set for Feb. 5. I'm really excited about this opportunity." The confusion may stemmed from the UFC's original plans of hosting the Jones-Bader matchup on Jan. 1 at UFC 125. Bader reportedly asked for the fight to be delayed due to personal commitments. Jones' team apparently was pushing for the New Year's Day contest but relented in favor of keeping the matchup intact.

Fans hoping to see Jon Jones fight Ryan Bader at UFC 126 were disappointed when Dana White said at a Fan Expo question-and-answer session Friday that the fight might not happen after all. "I don't know if Jones is going to fight Bader," White said. "We tried to put that fight together, but Bader has some stuff going on. Jon Jones might be fighting somebody else, I don't know how that's going to go." But Jones' agent says he had already been sent a bout agreement for the Feb. 5 fight and had even talked about the fight to UFC officials as recently as Friday in London, and that Jones will sign the paperwork soon. UFC officials even confirmed this statement saying that the fight is still scheduled for the Super Bowl weekend show. The original plan was to have Jones-Bader at UFC 125 on Jan. 1, but Bader asked to have the fight pushed back due to it being scheduled too close to his upcoming wedding.

LONDON – Next to "can you get me tickets," UFC president Dana White is most often asked where the promotion is headed next.
Both questions were frequently posed today during a Q&A session with UFC Fight Club members at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London
Two new markets appear to have risen above White's usual response ("we're going everywhere"): Brazil and India.
White said UFC executive Lorenzo Fertitta is headed to India following Saturday's UFC 120 event, and he also said the promotion is seriously interested in Brazil following the South American country's successful bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

LONDON – WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo may agree with observers who think he's running out of credible threats.
During a Q&A session with UFC Fight Club members at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, UFC president Dana White said Aldo has expressed interest in moving up to the lightweight division.
"From what I'm hearing, Aldo's interested in testing himself," White said.
The UFC president did not present a timeline for a possible move other than to say it could happen "very soon."
Aldo, a member of powerhouse MMA team Blackhouse, decimated the most recent challenger to his WEC crown when he took out former UFC lightweight and "The Ultimate Fighter 5" runner-up Manny Gamburyan by second-round TKO at WEC 51. It was his eighth consecutive victory in the promotion.

News of a UFC event on January 22nd, featuring a lightweight bout between Melvin Guillard and Yves Edwards, started unfolding yesterday, although it was unclear where the event would be held or whether it would be designated as a UFC Fight Night or a UFC: Live on Versus event. Now, it appears that the promotion is planning a second installment of UFC: Fight for the Troops, with the card to be held at Fort Hood, outside of Killeen, Texas. As a Texas native, Edwards will most likely have the crowd behind him.

LONDON – UFC newcomer Fabio Maldonado (17-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) admits he couldn't help but laugh when he first read the pre-fight comments from his UFC 120 opponent, James McSweeney (4-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC).
Earlier this month, the brash British striker, who welcomes Maldonado into the cage in the first bout of Saturday's Spike TV-broadcast fight card at The O2 in London, said he believes the Brazilian is tailor-made to his style and likely will be dispatched in "Knockout of the Night" fashion.
"James talks too much," Maldonado told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "Even a Macaw can talk. He's right about this fight being the 'Knockout of the Night,' but he will be on the receiving end, and I will get the money."

“Just recently, around six months ago when I left (her), when I just finally said I’m done, it was after, I found out through her doctor it wasn’t cancer, it was just a normal check-up,” Wessel said on the show. “She just said that for drama, and she’s just a pretty manipulative person and it really sucked that I found that out.
“When I was talking to her doctor on the phone, because things were coming to a head and I just kind of investigated a little bit on my own, I just went silent. Literally, everything went in slow motion like my whole world stopped, because for 2 ½ years I have been dealing with this woman acting like she’s sick, acting like she was going to these doctors’ appointments, and really she never had anything wrong with her. It was almost disgusting.”

"50 percent [of MMA fighters take steroids], if not more.... What can I say, other than we need to stay away from all of that. It's not easy to put things into perspective, especially if you believe that you have a disadvantage from the get go. For some athletes, it's hard to hold up physically and mentally- the pressure, the obligation to stay on top - everything pushes you to take steroids. For me, PEDs aren't the solution. Taking PEDs jeopardizes your health and it's cheating. I am a fighter; I owe my victories to my hard work, my training, the fact that I push myself beyond the limit, the sacrifices I make to a life almost entirely dedicated to sports. Nothing else. Stay away from the needles. You can succeed without them."

Steve Cantwell is off the UFC 120 card less than 48 hours before it is due to start, having ripped a knee ligament in a BJJ training session on Thursday night (UK time).
Fighters Only was told on Friday morning that Cantwell has consulted medical staff but is clearly in no condition to compete and has had to be pulled from the bout with UFC debutant Stanislav Nedkov.
He cannot be replaced at this late stage; as there would be no time for a replacement to pass medical checks.

Lightweight fighter Marcin Held, who's posted an impressive 10-1 professional MMA record despite being just 18 years old, is headed to the U.S.
The Polish MMA prodigy has signed a multi-fight deal with Bellator Fighting Championships.
He's joined the organization's season-four lightweight tournament, which commences with an eight-man field in early 2011.
"We have been watching Marcin for over a year and are thrilled to be able to welcome him to Bellator," Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney stated. "He is a prodigy in every sense of the word and a tremendous addition to our lightweight division."

The fifth episode of "The Ultimate Fighter 12: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck" scored a 1.34 household rating and a season-best average audience of 1.9 million viewers.
Spike TV officials today emailed the ratings information to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
The ratings topped the previous season-high of 1.8 million viewers who tuned in for episode No. 3 on Sept. 30.

Former World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champion "Razor" Rob McCullough (19-6 MMA, 0-0 BFC) is Bellator bound.
The 33-year-old fighter has signed an exclusive deal with the organization and will compete in Bellator's season-four lightweight tournament, officials today announced.
The eight-man tourney kicks off in early 2011 and will determine a future title challenger.
McCullough, a nine-year pro from Huntington Beach, Calif., posted a 7-4 record with the WEC, which included a 13-month run as the organization's lightweight champ from 2007-2008.

Brock Lesnar now feels like he's on more stable ground even as his camp expands and contracts.
He's emphatically answered questions of whether he could compete again after illness jeopardized his career, and he's now focused on getting the best help possible to keep his belt.
"Everything is in line," Lesnar (5-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) said of his preparation for his third title defense, which comes Oct. 23 at UFC 121 against Cain Velasquez (8-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC). "Guys say they have good camps, and I can go back and say every camp has been my best camp, but I really think ... that's the truth for everybody if they want to evolve."

LONDON – "I am Sexyama."
Those are the exact words, in English, Japanese superstar Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) used to open his address to the media at Thursday's "UFC 120: Bisping vs. Akiyama" pre-event press conference in London.
While that audacious tag once seemed shockingly accurate when describing the bronzed judoka with the impressive 11-fight win streak – and though Akiyama's performances thus far in the octagon have both been "Fight of the Night" affairs – he's earned just a split-decision win in two trips to the cage. Is that sexy enough to stick around in the UFC should he falter against UFC 120 opponent Michael Bisping?

LONDON – When the Ultimate Fighting Championship travels to Germany for just the second time in the promotion's history for November's "UFC 122: Marquardt vs. Okami" event, it will do so amid political backlash and without a TV contract in the country.
If it all sounds to you like a little bit of déjà vu for the company that struggled in the U.S. throughout the 1990s to overcome the label of "human cockfighting," you're not alone.
UFC U.K. president Marshall Zelaznik feels the same.